Means for utilizing the power of a river.



H. FLYNN.

MEANS FOR UTILIZING THE POWER OF A RIVER.

APILIGATIOH nun mu 1n, 190a.

921 ,687. Patented May 18, 1909.

llL'Ull l lil'NN. Ul" ()hEAN, NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR UTILIZING THE POWER OF A RIVER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Juiylfi. 1808i Patented May 18, 1909.

Serial N0. 443.781.

To all when: it mm cont-( 1w:

Be it known that l, llt'cn FLYXX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of ()leun, in the county of (attaraugus and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Utilizing the Power of a River, of which the following is a specification.

It is a well known tact that large rivers possess great possibilities for the development of power for all kinds of uses and various plans have been devised for obtaining power therel'rom,

i nral eom'se.

The greatest power is obtainable at it falls. but all plans for seeun F shore of the island and so disposed that the ing power tlltlO are objectionable because it means the destruction of at least some of the Besides the 1 current above it falls that great power may island, I place piers 7 and H, which diverge he obtained without destroying any of the natural het'tllly of the riter or falls and in such a way that: the water used {oi the generation of the power is imnn-diutely returned to the river so that it flows in its fullest 1:- pacity over the falls as heretofore.

1n the drawings forming a part of this; application, Figure l is a plan view of a part of the Xit'tgara river showing the applieat ion of 3 my invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view ol the entrance to the waterways, and Fig 3 is an elevation 01 the waterways.

It is a. geographicalfact that islands are situated in the various rivers above falls and are. ol considerable size, and the river flows on each side of the islands in great volume and the upper end of theisland meets with the full force of t heeurrent of the river which at this point is very great, being muchgreatertt Ian below the. falls.

My invention contemplates tin -use ol waterways er-ctendmt over an lsltnnl which partly in section of one beauty of the falls or river. or alter its not These waterways may be pro \ided in large nnlnlvers and by running them lengthwise of the island and the direction ol' llow of the. water when it strikes the unpe'r end of the island the greatest amount of l ort-e is derived thew-front 'lhat is to say, no bends in the waterways, which would decrease the generating force of the current, are necessary.

I prefer to form the waterways by building concrete walls such as 2, 3, along the lSlund 1, whichv with the bottom 4, forms a passageway for the water, running: from shore to current will cause the water to pass ra )ltll therethrough. There may be provided any number of intermediate walls 5, to divide the whole into any number of separate waterways 6. At the upper ends of the walls and 3 that is, near the upper shore ol the 3 tioned so that the blades 11 extend into the will take. water from the river at-t'he upper end ol' the island and return it at. the lower end and while passing through such waterways it will operate a power means such as water wheels from which power is derived. B disposing these waterways along an is and waterways of considerablelength may he provided which will take watenfrom the river only temporarily and will return it. at the lower end of the island so that the river flows at the falls at its ful capacity and nothl i l water'in the waterways so that the flow of the water will revolve the water wheels and provide powerwhioh may be transmitted throu h the miter gears 12, 13, to shaft 1-1, and tlen distributed for use. The water wheels are plaeed in numbers successively along the length of the waterway so that the water during its passage therethrough will operate on a number of wheels and thus produce eol'isiderahle force.

Where therl are a number of water wheelsplaced successively as is shown there is a tendency of the water to form in eddies after each wheelwhiclrwouhl Interfere with the proper working of the device and to prevent this l employ projections 15, which project ironttho opposite walls of the waterway and preferably opposite each other, which convcrge so as to reduce the space 'for the pas- Huge/oi the water and are disposed so as to affect the water 'ust before it contatits with the several wheeis.

it will be apparent that with the arrangement he'ro set forth a great deal'of ower may be obtained from the force of t to current" -witlnmt in any way destroying the natural ing is done to take away any of the natural beauty of the falls or river as the water 1s ltltr only temporarily taken from the river and is returned to continue over the falls.

Having described my invention what I claim is,

1. Means for utilizing the power of a river, comprising waterways disposed across "an island situated in the river, said waterways communicating with the river and means adapted to be operated by the passage of the 10 water throu b said waterways.

2. Means or utilizing the power of a river, comprising a waterway disposed across an island, opening at the up or end of the island and communicating with river below, said waterwa being disposed substantially in the line of t 1e current of the river as it strikes said waterway and power means adapted to be operated by the How of water through said waterway.

3. Power generating means com risin means forming a waterway, a pluraity o watefwheels successively arranged along the waterway and adapted to be operated by the water in said waterway and conver ing projections disposed so as to deflect t e water near the water wheels by reducin the water passageway near the water wheei s.

Signed at Olean in thecounty of Cattaraugus and State of ew York, this 10th day of uly, 190s.

HUGH FLYNN. Witnesses:

S. E. PABSMORE, EDWARD H. WRIGHT. 

